I've seen some building designs where drains are installed in the ground upslope from the house. It catches the rainwater and shunts it off the the sides, clear of the house.

sue

Nicholas Covey

Posts: 180

Location: Missouri/Iowa border

1

posted 7 years ago

Finding a working example in relatively the same climate has been an issue of mine as well... I was kind of hoping that maybe Mike had a list of homes of people willing to show them off to perspective builders... I would even do a special google map if I had a list (hint hint).

At any rate, I have about 30-40 inches of rainfall annually here, so my concerns about moisture are a big issue as well. Not anything like Paul, but an issue still...

Steve Nicolini

Posts: 224

posted 7 years ago

I wonder if mudslides would be a problem in really wet areas. So the rooftops of PSP... do they usually have horticulture going on? In Mike's video he has some little saplings on his roof. Are there any do's and don'ts for planting on the roof, Mike?

Nicholas Covey

Posts: 180

Location: Missouri/Iowa border

1

posted 7 years ago

Paul, what kind of terrrain are you likely to build on?

Im looking at a ridgeline for my location, so I can control the water table a great deal more than I would be able to with a hillside house. If all goes as planned (though nothing ever does completely), Im going to be building on a high point with sort of a "moat" around it until I start backfilling and even then there are a lot of french drains and most of my backfill will be sand.

My plan is to put sand beneath and topsoil above the poly, and extend the poly out several yards, creating a pretty large umbrella where water will wash off the sides into french drains, and with the sand as porous as it is, that should eliminate a lot of the capillary action of water from below, especially if this is lower than the actual structure on all 4 sides. As such, the "high point" where the actual underground structure is located, should drain any excess ground water into the permeable layer of sand and let it flow off down the hill.

Please feel free to let me know if this is a good iea or otherwise. I've tried to pick apart any of what I percieve to be problems and work them over extensively, then turned them over to my wife, who was a commercial builder for the last 5 years and let her pick them over some more. As such I'm a little away from what Mike envisioned, but I'd rather overbuild than underbuild.

Quittrack, what will support the extended poly? I like the umbrella idea, but I wonder if it will prevent a lot of sunlight.

Nicholas Covey

Posts: 180

Location: Missouri/Iowa border

1

posted 7 years ago

the extended poly is just going to be laid out on top of the sand berming that I will be piling around the structure. Once I get it to the shape I want, I'll put the poly over it, then bury that with the topsoil.